Means for locomotion.



J. T. MALCOLM.

MEANS FOR LOCOMOTION.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 11, 1914.

1,176,074. Patented Mar. 21, 1916.

JOHN T. ivrancomvr, or snA'rrLE, WASHINGTON.

MEANS FOR LOCOMOTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 21, 1916.

Application filed. February 11, 1914. Serial No. 818,109.

To all whom it may concern v Be it known that I, JoHN T.-MALcoLM, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the citv of Seattle, county of King and State of ashington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Locomotion, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in means for locomotion, and more especially to such means as is applied directly to the human foot, and has for its principal object to provide a device of this character by means of which one may, while in an upright position, roll himself forwardly and still not be in danger of falling when a new impetus is given.

The important features of this invention are the means provided for preventing any retrograde movement of the wheelswhen a new impetus is given, and also the simple, sensitive and effective braking means.

Other features and objects will appear as the invention is more fully hereinafter described and explained, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of my device, with parts omitted. Fig. 2 is an ed ewise view of the same upon the line a2w of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary enlarged detail View upon the line 9-4/ of Fig. 2.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, reference numeral 1 designates a wheel which is rigidly secured to an axle 2, upon the inner end of which is loosely mounted a shell 3 which has projecting upwardly from it a handle extension 4 which terminates in the handle 5. The bottom portion of the shell 3 is recessed, as indicated at 6, to receive the foot of the wearer, and the thickened portion 7 of the said shell 3 is recessed as indicated at 8. Around the inner circumference of the recess 8 are teeth 9, one of the sides of each of which acts as a cam against which wipes an end of a pin 10 which passes loosely through the axle 2, with the result that the said axle is permitted to freely revolve in clockwise direction with respect to the wheel 3, as viewed in Fig. 3, but is prevented from revolving in the opposite direction because an end of the pin 10 contacts with the straight face of one of the teeth 9 when the said axle is turned in a counter-clockwise direction, but rides freely over the points of the teeth when the axle is turned in clockwise direction. Upon the outer end of the axle 2 is loosely mounted a cup 11 which has the cover 12, the nuts 13 and 14 holding the parts mentioned in place upon the axle 2. The nut 1 1 is of suflicient size to act also as a cover for the recess 8. Upon the cup 11 is an arc-shaped extension 15 and oppositely disposed to the said extension is a similarly shaped block 16, whose purpose is to be used as a brake upon shaft 2 by gripping said shaft between the said block and the extension 15. The said block is connected to the lower end of the lever 17 by means of a pin 18, the said lever being pivotally connected to the cup 11 by means of the pin 19; the said lever is also pivoted at 20 to the extension 4 and the upper end of the lever may be provided with a finger plate '21 and also with a chain 22 which connects said lever to the said extens1on.

In operation, of course, a pair of the said above described devices is used, one for each foot of the wearer. The handle 5 of each device is gri ed bv the wearer in about the manner of an ordinary stilt, and the wearer propels himself forward bv alternate movements of the feet much in the manner of a roller skater, although it will be seen that, due to the co-action of the pin 10 and the tooth 9, there is no danger of the wearer slipping backwardly as would be the case in the use of roller skates. WVhen it is desired to brake the rotation of the wheels the same is accomplished by a slightpressure upon the finger-plate 21 (this pressure is from left to right, as viewed in Fig. 1) which causes the lower end of the lever to move in the opposite direction, and causes a kind of toggle action to be set up between the block 16, the axle 2 and the lever 17, because the two pins 18 and 19 tend to move into alinement with each other. The aperture through the lever 17, and which receives the pin 20, is slightly elongated as seen inFig. 1 to permit of a slightly upward movement of the said lever, which occurs when the same is operated as above described.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided a device which combines all the desirable qualities of a roller skate with none of the obvious disadvantages of the latter.

lVhile I have shown a particular form of embodiment of my invention, I am aware that many minor changes therein will readily suggest themselves to others With- 7 out departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention and I therefore desire, to avoid.

In a device of the class described, the com loi'riatioii of a framecomiarisfing a foot sup-- porting shell and a handle secured thereto," an. axle: rotatably mounted in theframe, a;-

Wheel rigidly secured to the axle, a cup' loosely mounted on the axle, a hand lever pivotally' and' 'sli'dably' mounted on the hand le and pivotally attached to the said cup, a lug integral with said cup and adaptedto 'fit closely against said axle, and. a brake member oppositely disposed to said'lug' and pivoted-tosaid handle. 7 l is JOHN T. MALCOLLI. Witnesses: v y J -rvrRicfikRfis,

J, F. AL IseN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained-tor five cents eaeh, by addressing the con unissiqner or liate ntsg Washlngton',D10.-. r V 

